In a Charity Commission conference supported by the BBC, third sector bosses were today urged to exploit media innovations in order to reach a wider target audience.

Social networking sites, blogs, broadband TV and other global advances that broaden the scope of the internet should be employed by modern charities to encourage greater involvement in good causes, guests at the event were told.

"New and innovative media techniques are developing more rapidly than most of us can keep pace with," said Dame Suzi Leather, chair of the Charity Commission.

"We are entering an age of participative media where anybody with access to a computer has the potential to contribute in a unique and valuable way."

Also speaking at the conference, third sector minister Ed Miliband told visitors that society was becoming increasingly determined to have a say in the way public services were managed at a local level. The latest media innovations were the way to facilitate this, he urged.

"As expectations rise it is increasingly important that government and the media come together with the third sector to answer the challenge of how to increase opportunities for public participation," the voluntary sector minister told attendants.

The event was hosted by the Northampton Suite of City University in London.